Patti Wood

What are Notre Dame’s quarterbacks saying with their bodies that they aren’t saying with their words?

I posed this question to Patti Wood, a body language expert and professional speaker. Wood, once dubbed “the Babe Ruth of body language experts,” is the author of “Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma.” She’s been asked to speak on non-verbal communication during hundreds of national news and entertainment programs. When she’s not speaking in front of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, she maintains a blog about body language.

Wood watched three separate interviews, conducted March 18, of redshirt junior Malik Zaire, redshirt sophomore DeShone Kizer and sophomore Brandon Wimbush.

ZAIRE IS FRUSTRATED & UNCOMFORTABLE

Wood said her overall impression of Zaire, based solely off this interview, was: “This is a young man that has been through a lot.”

The body language expert was initially struck by Zaire’s movement of his neck – a quick jerk from side to side, combined with a pull back movement – which she called “such a strong tick.”

“It seems so out of his control that it may be neurological,” she said. “Less pronounced movements in individuals show a lack of centeredness and confidence.”

Wood said to watch for Zaire pressing his lips together tightly or turning his head away from the interviewer, which show a lack of confidence.

“His hesitant speech and low volume level show his discomfort and disquiet,” she added.

It may be no surprise that Wood said Zaire may be obscuring his true feelings when asked about the quarterback competition.

“His eyes are almost closed as he listens to the question,” she said. “That is typically an attempt to block the truth of how you’re feeling from the main interviewer and to give yourself time to think of a better answer than what you might be truly feeling.”

Wood says to watch for additional movements that may demonstrate frustration (sticking out his tongue or filling his mouth with air) and feeling uncomfortable (rubbing his nose several times) and during what moments they come in.

“As he goes on in the interview, notice his chin and how it juts out. He’s trying to give himself more confidence; that chin is jutting out in defiance,” she said. “The only thing he seems truly happy about is his love of Tex-Mex.”

KIZER TENSE, BUT MORE COMFORTABLE THAN ZAIRE

Wood said her impressions of Kizer, based solely off this interview, is that he’s tense, a bit frustrated, but overall more comfortable than Zaire.

“His volume level is also low, but his voice seems even and steady,” she said. “Both of them [Zaire and Kizer] are chin jutting, he [Kizer] does it less so. He also has a slight pursing of the lips and a little tiny bit of that blowing out air and frustration – holding it in – but it’s much less.”

While Wood believes Zaire’s tongue motions were a sometimes a sign of passive aggressiveness toward the questions being asked, she believed Kizer’s tongue betrayed something different.

“He is getting more moisture into his mouth, showing tension,” she said. “Overall, his body language cues are much less anxious and he, overall, is much more comfortable [than Zaire].”

WIMBUSH IS OK WITH REDSHIRTING

Wood was impressed with the way Wimbush handled himself, at least initially.

“Brandon starts his interview so much differently than the other two players,” she said. “Notice his smile. Notice how his head is more forward. He gives, in just that first moment or two, such a profoundly different first impression – much more ease as to what’s going on.”

Wood said Wimbush holds his mouth open and moves his jaw to the side, which indicates he’s unsure about the answer he’s going to give to the question being asked.

“His gaze goes unfocused and glazed over like he is saying in his mind, ‘Get me out of here,'” she said. Wimbush also bites his lip, which betrays his nervousness.

Wood was also struck by a portion of Wimbush’s answer regarding Coach Brian Kelly’s initial decision to redshirt him.

“He has this interesting statement where he says, ‘I can control only what I can control.’ And then notice how he laps with his tongue out,” she said. “To me, that’s states nonverbally that he’d like to control more.”

Wood’s final impression of Wimbush is that he is “sincere” in his answer about redshirting this year.

“There’s a great truth,” she said. “He does feel it wouldn’t be so bad and you can hear a respect in his voice for his teammates.”

The post A Body Language Expert Analyzes Notre Dame’s QBs appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Irish Player to Watch:

Everett Golson Malik Zaire, Junior

6’0”, 222 Lbs.

Recently I’ve been Netflixing (is that a word?) a lot of “The Office” episodes. The U.S. version. I’ve already seen every episode. Heck, I’ve probably seen every episode at least two times. I’ve been doing it because the show’s mindless and comforting. At this point, I know the jokes that are coming, and even if I didn’t, I could figure out what’s coming next because the episodes are all so similar. Someday I have a dream of an ND offseason being like that. Particularly as it relates to the QB position. Boring. Redundant. Predictable. This was not that offseason.

The Music City Bowl was indeed music to many fans’ ears and eyes. Swagger-master Malik Zaire got his chance to start a game and took advantage. The rush heavy spread option attack saw some extended play with positive results. The 263 ground yards represented the 8^th highest game total of the Brian Kelly era. If we further limit that query to games versus Power 5 teams, only the 2012 Miami game and the 2011 Purdue game amassed better rushing totals. There were a lot of firsts in that game for Zaire: first start, first rushing touchdown, first bowl MVP award, and plenty to build upon for the 2015 season.

It’s important to remember, though, that we don’t really know all that much about Zaire. As andrewwinn discussed earlier this offseason, 103 snaps doesn’t tell us much about Zaire’s potential. Zaire’s just as likely to be Dayne Crist/Tommy Rees as he is to be Brady Quinn (in terms of production) if we’re just considering the snaps we’ve observed. No question that Zaire is a different type of player than his immediate predecessors, Golson included. Where Golson appeared to struggle with mental demons as much, if not more, than on field demons, Zaire has done nothing but exude supreme, unwaivering confidence in his own abilities. It’s Clausen’s self-confidence with Golson’s physical gifts. Whether Zaire and new coordinator Mike Sanford can harness these skills will go a considerable way in determining the success of the 2015season.

It seems fair and reasonable to anticipate the team running more with Zaire under (or more appropriately behind) center. His natural skill set lends itself to a power option attack. Sanford’s background with both Stanford and Boise State involved a healthy dose of power running, and the stacked Irish offensive line is built to run. However, the stable of running backs is shallow, and even shallower to start the season with Bryant’s suspension. Quarterback has no experience behind Zaire’s limited experience so the team cannot afford for Zaire to get hurt meaning balance is still key.

The dwindling memories but stubborn resolve of the #RTDB’ers will force the conversation back to the 2012 season being both Kelly’s most successful and most rush heavy play mix. Zaire’s equipped to appease this crowd. However, it wasn’t just running the ball more that made the 2012 team successful. Zaire’s got a big arm to make throws with. He’s a player that will want to extend plays and awe the crowd, but he must avoid Rees and Golson’s propensity for turnovers. The corollary to 2012 that does not get press is that 2012 was the only season in the Kelly era in which the offense had an interception percentage* low enough to finish in the top half of CFP teams (27^th nationally). The team can’t abandon the pass. Zaire must take advantage and be efficient with his pass attempts. Save the football. Save the team. Or something like that. You get my point…

(* “Interception Percentage” is the number of drop backs t0 pass that resulted in an interception)

Enemy Player to Watch

All of them, Cody Kessler, Senior

6’2”, 215 Lbs.

Just recently the “watch” lists for all of college football’s awards were released letting us know who ESPN should start framing narratives around. One such award is the Davey O’Brien Award which is presented to the nation’s top quarterback. Six of Notre Dame’s opponents (Clemson, GA Tech, UMass, USC, Stanford, and Navy) will boast watch list members this year.

Aside from six of Notre Dame’s 2015 opponents, other guys on the watch list: Connor Cook (MSU), Marquise Williams (UNC), Taysom Hill (BYU), and Gunner Kiel. Notre Dame really needs to adopt Gary Pinkel’s plan of joining a conference so they could tack on some FCS opponents and avoid all of these quarterbacks. I finally get what he was thinking.

Okay, back to the task at hand. In 2013, Tex selected Kevin Hogan as the enemy to watch. He’s still around and is a watch list member, but the Irish have actually handled Hogan pretty well. Both of ND’s scary as f— option opponents, Navy (Keenan Reynolds) and Georgia Tech (Justin Thomas) boast O’Brien watch list members as well. You bet I’ll be watching them, and drinking heavily while doing so. But, even with all of these options there’s a guy on there that led me to learn the art of dry walling after punching out many a hole in his honor: USC’s Cody Kessler.

You might remember Kessler from such performances as his one man re-enactment of the Tommy Lee Jones classic Blown Away. In case you were wondering, the ND fan base is represented by Jeff Bridges in this scene. Staring around, looking at the rubble, unsure what in the world happened but knowing exactly who the hell did it. I can’t live…with or without you.

Kessler’s final line in the 2014 game:

372 yards, 6 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 80% completion percentage.

Screw him. I used to average that in NCAA Football 2011 (RIP) with Dayne Crist. I mean, “ND QB #10.”  So, he’s not all that special.

Only, Kessler actually is that good. That Kessler didn’t finish in the Top 11 for Heisman voting last year is an indictment of just how silly that voting actually is. Among Kessler’s national finishes last year:

3^rd in completion percentage (1^st among Power 5 players) – 69.7%

4^th in touchdown passes (2^nd among Power 5 players) – 39

T-10^th in fewest interceptions – 5

3^rd in passer rating – 167.1 (Only 2 ahead: Mariota [won Heisman], J.T. Barrett [5^th in Heisman voting])

While Kessler lost 3 of his top 4 targets from 2014 including his BFF Nelson Agholor, the Trojans do not lack for speed or skill at the receiver position. Kessler excelled in year 1 of the Sarkisian tenure, and he comes into 2015 as trendy Heisman pick making him worthy of all the derision you loyal readers can muster.

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